


Heavier on the Outside

by lionessvalenti



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Pre-Series: Doctor Who (2005), references to crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23621980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: Groot wants to steal a blue box and Rocket's going to help him.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22
Collections: What Fen Do (Instead of Going Outside)





	Heavier on the Outside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heartbeatstumbles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbeatstumbles/gifts).



> I had a word count requirement of the number of words being a prime number, and I felt that was more important than any other minimums suggested. Are there prime numbers over the suggested minimum? Yes. But I didn't do that.

Rocket stumbled out of the bar a little drunk and twenty thousand units richer. It was so easy to get people to part with their money when they were the drunker one.

The plan was, he was going to meet Groot out near the city's edge (where presumably they wouldn't cross paths with all the people they just scammed) and they would go back to their ship together. He didn't quite get to the edge when he spotted Groot inspecting a blue box. It was a hair taller than Groot himself, with some faintly familiar lettering on it.

"What are you doing?" Rocket asked, picking up the pace as he scampered over to him."We were supposed to take different paths outta there."

"I am Groot."

"I can see that it's a box."

"I am Groot."

Rocket made a face. "Why do you want to steal the box? It's a bunch of wood with a light on it. What are you going to do with it?"

"I am Groot." Groot paused, and a moment later added, "I am Groot."

"All right, pal, if you say so. Pick it up and let's go."

"I am Groot."

" _Heavy?_ You gotta be kidding me. Fine. We'll open it up and see if it sprouts wheels."

Rocket walked around to the front of the box, and reached up to grasp the handle. If he stretched his arm all the way up, he could wrap his hand around it. It was always worth checking to see if a door was unlocked before going in with more advanced measures. People were stupid. They were always leaving things unlocked.

Whoever owned the blue box wasn't a total moron because the door was locked. It didn't even wiggle when Rocket tugged on it.

"All right, plan B." Rocket reached into his pocket and pulled out a cobbled together lock pick set. Anytime he found something that was better than the one he already had, he tossed out the inferior one and replaced it.

"You need a key to open that door."

"Yeah, no shit," Rocket replied, barely aware that a new voice has entered the conversation. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

"No, you need this key."

Rocket turned around and stared up at the man behind him. He was a Terran-looking guy in a black jacket with big ears. He was holding some kind of blue sonic device. "This your box."

He grinned. "Yup."

"Oh. Well, I wasn't trying to steal your box," Rocket said. Had he been a little less drunk, he might have played cooler than that. Maybe. "Just wanted to peek inside, that's all."

"I am Groot," Groot said.

"Well, thank you," the man replied. "I quite like it, too."

Rocket's eyes widened. "You speak Groot?"

"I speak a lot of things. What's your name, friend?"

"Rocket. And I ain't your friend. Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor." He pointed his sonic device -- a screwdriver, Rocket could see now that it was out -- and after a second, the door to the box popped open. "Let's go inside."

"There's no way Groot's gonna fit," Rocket said. "And we're not going to fit in there with him."

The Doctor grinned. "Oh, I think we'll fit just fine. Go on."

Suspicious, Rocket pushed open the door and stepped inside. He stopped in his tracks and stared up at the high ceilings and the massive room holding a glowing console. "Oh. Groot, you gotta see this."

Groot ducked his head to get into the door and when he walked through the threshold, his eyes widened. "I am Groot."

"Yup!" The Doctor said cheerfully as he moved in behind the two of them. The door closed behind all three of them and he pushed through to get to the console.

"I am Groot?"

"He did it because he's a Time Lord," Rocket answered before the Doctor could get in a word. He'd heard about the Time Lords, he'd heard about this technology, but he didn't think any of it was left. It was known that they were all gone. He stared at the Doctor. "I didn't think there were any of your kind left."

"Just me," the Doctor replied. The chipper edge to his voice had disappeared.

Rocket took a few more steps in. "Yeah, me too."

The Doctor looked over, taking Rocket in for a second. "Do you want to come with me? We can go anywhere in space and time. Might be a nice break from petty thievery."

"Twenty thousand units is hardly petty," Rocket muttered indignantly. "We don't know anything about you. Why should we go anywhere with you when we have a perfectly good ship outside the city?"

The Doctor hit a level on the console and the whole thing lit up, while making a sound like an engine revving. "Because lonely souls move together. Isn't that right? And this ship is a time machine."

"I am Groot."

Rocket craned his neck to look up at Groot. "Yeah, buddy. That's right." He sighed. It was sappy, and he hated sap. However, if this was a time machine, there wasn't anything stopping him from picking up some artifacts and heading out of that time and right into another, with no one the wiser. "All right, Doctor, where we going?"

The Doctor grinned. "Let's find out."

Despite himself, Rocket grinned too. "All right, yeah. Let's go."

Groot walked up the ramp toward the Doctor. "I am Groot."

"Me too, my friend," the Doctor replied.


End file.
